Pages

Friday, December 29, 2017

The year 2017 is just about over and I thought it would be a good time to review some of DivGro's highs and lows of the year.

My DivGro portfolio contains lots of winners! Of the 56 positions, 51 have positive total returns. The five losing positions are down an average of only 5.2%. The largest loss is from Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI), with total returns of -11%.

On the other hand, the portfolio is full of double-digit and triple-digit percentage winners. The biggest winner is General Dynamics (GD), with total returns of 220% or 46% annualized. The runner-up is Microsoft (MSFT), with total returns of 205% or 45% annualized. There are three other stocks with total returns above 100%.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

I write monthly options update articles to keep track of options trades in my DivGro portfolio. Each options update serves as a status report on the open options and the obligations I have. I also report on new trades and provide a running tally of DivGro's options income to date.

While DivGro is focused on investing in dividend growth stocks, I added options trading to the mix in June 2016. My goal is to generate options income and to use the money I collect to buy more dividend growth stocks. I sell covered calls on dividend growth stocks I own or secured puts on stocks I'd like to own.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

The year is almost over and this is the last edition of my monthly pulse article series for 2017!

In these pulse articles, I focus on strategy and monitor the health of my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. I update the fair value estimates for every stock my portfolio and use the information to identify undervalued stocks suitable for further investment.

David Fish's CCC list contains dividend growth stocks that have paid higher dividends for five consecutive years. This list is updated every month and contains more than 800 stocks. An accompanying spreadsheet provides key statistics of the CCC stocks.

Ranking so many stocks would be a daunting task. To simplify things and to introduce some variation from month to month, I use different screens to trim the CCC list to a smaller selection of candidate stocks. I rank these candidates and present the top 10 ranked stocks in my monthly 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series.

This month screen favors a selection of CCC stocks with high Safety and Growth scores according to Simply Safe Dividends.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Yow'zah! : an exclamation indicating excitement, usually associated with the observation of an event or object that greatly exceeds the ordinaryUrban Dictionary

On 16 December 2017, after blogging for about 1,800 days, I crossed the one million page view milestone! With this post, I'd like to celebrate this milestone and hopefully encourage other dividend growth investment (DGI) bloggers to keep going and to help this community go from strength to strength!

On 17 July 2016, the last time I wrote a milestones article on page views, I reported reaching 500,000 page views at a daily average of 389 page views. That was article #370. This one is #585 and I've averaged 555 page views since DivGro's inception.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Companies that regularly raise their dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings. Monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list helps me identify candidates for further analysis.

In the past week, 12 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including two of the stocks I own.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Welcome to the November review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks! The goal of these monthly reviews is to share updates to my portfolio and to provide a summary of dividends collected. I also consider the impact on DivGro's projected annual dividend income.

In November I opened one new position and added shares to two existing positions. Additionally, I closed three positions, one due to an options assignment and two for tax harvesting.

Five of the stocks in my portfolio announced dividend increases in November, and one stock announced a dividend cut.

As for dividend income, in November I received dividends totaling $1,005 from 16 stocks in my portfolio, a year over year increase of 51%. So far in 2017, I've collected $14,283 in dividends or about 110% of my 2017 goal of $12,960.

Monday, December 18, 2017

In this article, I'll do a quick review of my 2017 goals and present my goals for 2018.

I believe in setting stretching yet achievable goals. It is not useful to entertain goals that are impossible to achieve. On the other hand, goals that are easily achievable will not require special effort and probably won't give you a special sense of achievement.

Stretching goals demand extra effort and focus. They require commitment, patience, and constant monitoring. Sometimes, when progress is not sufficient, they require a course correction.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

I write monthly options update articles to keep track of options trades in my DivGro portfolio. I sell covered calls on dividend growth stocks I own or secured puts on stocks I'd like to own.

Each update serves as a status report on the open options and the obligations I have. I also report on new trades and I provide a running tally of DivGro's options income to date.

While DivGro is focused on investing in dividend growth stocks, I added options trading to the mix in June 2016. My goal is to generate options income and to use the money I collect to buy more dividend growth stocks.

Through November 2017, I've collected options income totaling $20,263.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Earlier this year I opened a position in the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM), an exchange-traded fund (ETF). In my most popular Seeking Alpha article to date, I presented the top holdings of 27 Dividend ETFs. Of these ETFs, VYM impressed me the most, with exceptional ratings from three leading authorities on ETFs, a solid 2.79% yield, impressive 3-year returns of 39%, and a very reasonable expense ratio.

Last month, when I updated my Dividend ETF analysis and presented ratings on 32 Dividend ETFs, it was the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) that impressed the most.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Companies that regularly increase dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings. I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks to identify candidates for further analysis.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Companies can only increase their dividends regularly if earnings grow sufficiently. I monitor dividend increases for stocks on my watch list of dividend growth stocks to identify candidates for further analysis.

Last week, 24 companies on my watch list decided to increase their dividends. Part 1 covers the Financials and Real Estate sectors. Part 2 will cover the non-Financials.

None of the stocks I cover in Part 1 announced a double-digit percentage increases. However, it still is worth looking at the list to see if any candidates seems worth analyzing.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Companies that regularly raise their dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings. I monitor dividend increase announces to help me identify dividend growth stocks for further analysis.

In the past week, eight companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I own.

Only one stock announced a double-digit percentage increase this time.

Monday, December 4, 2017

In November's DivGro Pulse article, I identified a few existing DivGro positions that I wanted to increase. The number one-ranked stock in my portfolio is CVS Health (CVS), which traded at a discount of 20% to my fair value estimate. CVS also is the top-ranked stock in November's 10 Dividend Growth Stocks to consider.

After closing my Pfizer (PFE) position and anticipating some tax-harvesting sells, I wanted to boost DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) a bit. So, in addition to adding shares to my existing CVS position, I also added shares to high-yielding Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI). It probably is a risky move, as OHI is now yielding nearly 10% and concerns about the impact of problems with one of its tenants linger. The REIT reported worse-than-expected third quarter earnings at the end of October which resulted in a steep drop in the share price.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Tax-loss harvesting is a strategy to offset capital gains and so limit your tax liability. Usually, it is done by intentionally selling a losing position to offset capital gains.

So far in 2017, I've earned about $8,600 in capital gains from stocks sold and an additional $8,400 in options income. More than half of these gains are short-term gains.

Having achieved my dividend income goals for 2017, I think it is wise to take some action and limit my tax liability. This article reports on two recent sells executed with tax-loss harvesting in mind.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

I like monitoring dividend increases for stocks on my watch list because I consider such stocks to be candidates for further analysis. Companies that regularly raise dividends show confidence in the potential growth of future earnings.

In the last week, 5 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases, including one of the stocks I own.

Only one stock announced a double-digit percentage increase, and it happens to be the stock I own!

Sunday, November 26, 2017

In December last year, I presented the Top Holdings of Dividend ETFs, a virtual portfolio of dividend growth stocks compiled from 27 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that invest in dividend-paying stocks. In June 2017, I presented an update based on 28 Dividend ETFs. This article repeats the exercise, this time with 32 Dividend ETFs. I present the top 50 holdings along with key statistics and fair value estimates from Morningstar.

To compile the virtual portfolio, I analyze the top 25 holdings in each ETF and assign scores proportional to the size of each holding. Summing the scores of individual holdings allow me to rank them by popularity, and so to find the top holdings of these dividend ETFs.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

On 8 November, the December $34 covered call options I sold against my Pfizer (PFE) shares got exercised early.

While my brokerage gave me the opportunity to retain my shares and to cover the exercised options by buying substitute shares, I decided instead to let my shares go. In doing so, I will forego the PFE's December dividend. Selling my shares removed $384 from DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI), which now stands at $16,373.

This article presents a summary of my PFE trades and a final profit/loss analysis. Moreover, I explain my reasons for closing the PFE position.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

In these articles, I focus on strategy and monitor the health of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. I update the fair value estimates for every stock in DivGro and use the information to identify undervalued stocks suitable for further investment.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

One of the best resources for dividend growth investors is the CCC list, a list of stocks with at least five consecutive years of higher dividend payments. Maintained by David Fish, the CCC list contains more than 800 dividend growth stocks trading on U.S. exchanges. He updates the list every month and usually writes a Seeking Alpha article announcing the update.

In my monthly 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series, I identify 10 CCC stocks for further research. To create the list, I trim the CCC list using various screens. I rank the trimmed list and assign a 7-star rating to each stock. Stocks rated 5 stars or better are worthy of further analysis.

The markets continue to trade at or near all-time highs, so I'm continuing my focus on finding stocks that trade at or below fair value. This month, I used a Google Sheets add-on from finbox.io to extract fair values and analyst targets for a selection of the CCC stocks.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Welcome to the October review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks! The goal of these monthly reviews is to share updates to my portfolio and to provide a summary of dividends collected. I also consider the impact on DivGro's projected annual dividend income.

In October I executed no buy or sell transactions, choosing instead to build my cash reserves.

Four of the stocks in my portfolio announced dividend increases in October. These increases translate to $82 in extra dividends every year.

As for dividend income, in October I received dividends totaling $775 from twelve stocks in my portfolio, a year over year decrease of 6%. So far in 2017, I've collected $13,278 in dividends or about 102% of my 2017 goal of $12,960.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

One way to identify dividend growth stocks for further analysis is to monitor dividend increases.

In the last week, 25 companies on my watch list declared dividend increases, including one of the stocks I hold in my portfolio. Part 1 covered dividend increases of Energy, Financials, and Real Estate sector stocks. This is Part 2, which covers the remaining sectors.

Last week, 36 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases. Part 1 covered dividend increases announced by Financials sector stocks, while Part 2 covered Energy and Real Estate sector stocks. This article is Part 3, which covers dividend increases from the remaining sectors.

Friday, November 3, 2017

While DivGro is focused on investing in dividend growth stocks, I added options trading to the mix in June 2016. My goal is to generate options income and to use the money so collected to buy more dividend growth stocks.

I sell covered calls on dividend stocks I own or secured puts on stocks I would like to own. I write monthly options update articles to keep track of these options trades. Each update serves as a status report on the open options and the obligations I have. I also report on new trades and I provide a running tally of DivGro's options income to date.

Last week, 36 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases. Part 1 covered dividend increases of Financials sector stocks. This article is Part 2, which covers the Energy and Real Estate sector stocks that announced dividend increases last week. Part 3 will cover dividend increases from the remaining sectors.

Last week, 36 companies on my watch list announced dividend increases. Part 1 covers dividend increases of Financials sector stocks and includes one of the stocks I own. Part 2 will cover Energy and Real Estate sector stocks that announced dividend increases last week, while Part 3 will cover dividend increases from the remaining sectors.

Friday, October 27, 2017

In my monthly pulse articles, I focus on strategy and monitor the health of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. To prepare, I update the fair value estimates for stocks in DivGro and use the information to identify undervalued stocks suitable for further investment.

I also review the recent performance of every stock to see if any of them are performing poorly. If so, I need to take appropriate action. In the near future, I'm planning to use a new tool to assess performance, so-called yield channel charts. These charts allow dividend growth investors to assess market valuation relative to historical yield patterns. Yield channels can be seen as safety zones for stock prices. As long as the stock price stays within the yield channel, the stock is fairly valued.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

It has been six months since I last hit a home run with DivGro. A home run describes any position in my portfolio that crosses the 100% mark in total return.

I announced my first home run in October 2014 after the San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in game 7 of the World Series.

Recently, the ninth stock in DivGro delivered 100% in total returns, just in time for the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. I wonder how many home runs will be hit in this year's championship?

Anyway, this article is not about baseball, but about DivGro's ninth home run!

Friday, October 20, 2017

In my Q2-2013 quarterly review, I wrote about a high adventure hike in New Mexico with my youngest son. While hiking down into a valley with heavy backpacks, I can't help but think that I'll have to climb back up again. Riding with the bulls give me a similar feeling. I can't help but think that we'll be challenged with a bear market, sooner or later.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

David Fish maintains a list of stocks with at least five consecutive years of higher dividend payments. Colloquially called the CCC list, it contains more than 800 dividend growth stocks trading on U.S. exchanges. While the CCC list and the accompanying spreadsheet is a wonderful source for dividend growth investors, analyzing so many stocks would be nearly impossible.

My monthly 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series identifies 10 CCC stocks worthy of further research. I select stocks from the CCC list, rank them, and assign a 7-star rating to each stock. It would be too demanding to rank all the CCC stocks, so I use different screens every month to trim the CCC list to a smaller number of candidates.

With the markets trading at all-time highs, I thought it might be interesting to repeat last October's selection process, namely to focus on stocks I believe to be trading at or below fair value.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Welcome to the September review of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks! With these monthly reviews, I share updates to my portfolio and provide a summary of dividends collected.

DivGro's projected annual dividend income (PADI) increased to $16,655, well above my 2017 goal of $14,400! One reason that I exceeded my PADI goal so early in the year is the success of my options trades, which allowed me to invest an additional $11,000 in funds into dividend growth stocks.

I just love quarter-ending months! September was another record-setting month for DivGro with dividend income totaling $2,245. This amount exceeded the previous record (June 2017) by about 8% and represents a year over year increase of about 80%!

Saturday, October 7, 2017

In June 2016, I started trading options for income by leveraging DivGro, my dividend growth portfolio. I sell covered calls and secured puts on dividend stocks I own or would like to own. The options income I collect flows back into DivGro, just like dividends. It provides extra cash to buy more dividend growth stocks.

I write monthly options update articles to keep track of my options trades. Each update serves as a status report on the open options and the obligations I have. I also report on new trades and I provide a running tally of DivGro's options income to date.

Through September 2017, I've collected options income totaling $18,773. Of that total, $10,135 is secured, meaning I no longer have any obligations to fulfill. That represents extra money I can use to buy dividend growth stocks.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Today I'm presenting Part 3 of Recent Additions to Existing Positions about trades I executed last week. With these trades, I'm adding shares to existing DivGro positions rather than opening new positions.

In Part 1, I discussed adding shares to two Consumer Staples stocks, CVS Health (CVS) and Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) — two stocks that are trading well below fair value.

Monday, October 2, 2017

In September's DivGro Pulse article, I identified several existing DivGro positions that I wanted to increase. This article (in three parts) presents a summary of trades I executed last week to boost these positions.

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

I've been rather busy this month, so September's edition of my monthly pulse article series is a little later than usual.

In these pulse articles, I focus on strategy and I monitor the health of DivGro, my portfolio of dividend growth stocks. I update the fair value estimates of stocks in DivGro and use the information to identify undervalued stocks suitable for further investment.

Additionally, I review the recent performance of stocks to see if any of them are performing poorly. If so, I need to take appropriate action.

Monday, September 25, 2017

In the article, I reviewed Dividend Stocks Rock and shared some of the cool features being offered, including model portfolios, a stock ranking system with buy, sell, or hold recommendations, stock cards providing concise stock reviews, and a premium newsletter published twice a month.

Because the offer expires today (which happens to be my birthday!), I wanted to write this quick reminder to try outDividend Stocks Rock before the offer expires at midnight tonight.

In this article, I'm reviewing Dividend Stocks Rock and relaying a special subscription offer from Mike, valid only through Monday, 25 September 2017. He has a 60-day no questions asked reimbursement policy, so you have plenty of time to evaluate Dividend Stocks Rock with no risk to you.Dividend Stocks Rock provides various tools and model portfolios for investors wanting to manage their own portfolio. Additionally, Dividend Stocks Rock offers a stock ranking system with buy, sell, or hold recommendations; stock cards providing concise stock reviews; trade alerts announcing buys and sells; and a premium newsletter published twice monthly.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

David Fish updates and publishes the CCC list every month. The list is a wonderful source for dividend growth investors. It contains more than 800 companies trading on U.S. exchanges with at least 5 consecutive years of increased dividend payments. The accompanying spreadsheet provides fundamental data.

With my monthly 10 Dividend Growth Stocks series, I identify 10 stocks worthy of further research. To create the list, I trim the CCC list to a manageable number of stocks, rank the trimmed list, and assign a 7-star rating to each stock.

Contact Form

Name

Email
*

Message
*

Follow by Email

Search DivGro

About FerdiS of DivGro

I'm an effects artist at a well-known animation studio in the Bay Area. My hobby is investing in stocks and options. On this blog, I write about my portfolio of dividend growth stocks, DivGro, created in January 2013. My goal is to generate a reliable and growing dividend income stream. I use options to boost dividend income.